Routed in Prayer: A Devotional for Those Starting New Jobsنمونه

Day 6: Just the way you are

Express Route

Culture, it has been said, is ‘the way we do things round here’. Wherever you find humans, you will find culture. Starting a new job means not only learning new tasks and operating systems, but also a new culture. As Christians, we are called to celebrate what is good and seek to change what is not. Today, consider what in your workplace you do and do not want to conform to – and prayerfully reflect on how you might be able to enact small changes that make a big difference. 

Scenic Route

Read: Psalm 16 

Reflect: Everywhere we go, we encounter culture. It is, as David Foster Wallace put it, the ‘water we swim in’. Every workplace, every team, every organisation has its own culture.  

You can tell the culture of a workplace by reflecting on these three simple questions: 

1. What do we celebrate? Birthdays, sales, life achievements, financial gain, integrity, kindness?
2. What do we choose to ignore? Lateness, dishonesty, personal lives, failure?
3. What do we talk about when no-one is telling us what to talk about – i.e. what do we make small talk about? The weather, weekend plans, family, latest Netflix series, office gossip?

Culture isn’t either wholly good or wholly bad. In every group, team, workplace, family, and church, we will see good and bad intermingled. Part of our job as Christians on our frontlines is to celebrate goodness where we see it, to name that which is not good and then seek to rectify it.  

Sometimes that can be simple – countering a workaholic culture by suggesting tea breaks, for example. But sometimes it can take more courage, like breaking the pattern of a blame culture by admitting when you’ve messed up.

Psalm 16 asks for God’s protection, acknowledging that He alone can offer us refuge from whatever kind of culture we find ourselves in. If you find yourself in a particularly difficult or toxic environment, this psalm may bring you great comfort: ‘Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.’ If you find yourself slotting in easily to your new culture, may it offer you a challenging perspective: ‘You are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing.’ 

Pray: Ask God for wisdom and discernment as you seek to understand the culture of your new workplace. Seek His will in how you can celebrate that which is good and honouring to Him, and His courage to call out that which is perpetuating brokenness or hurting others.